I didn’t grow up with an “oh no, do you need a Band-Aid” parent. I had a sister who liked to say ‘oh no. We may need to chop it off.’
—Text from Calliope to Searcy
CALLIOPE
I stared at the old man in shock.
“I don’t know that this is a great idea, sir. I’m not sure…”
“I Googled it. UPS drivers are allowed to get tips, though they discourage cash tips. So I’m giving you a Christmas basket. I just really appreciate you bringing this up here for me. The last driver used to deliver it in the yard, and sometimes the neighborhood dogs used to take them.”
I hated that I was hearing about the old driver again.
Seriously. Did she have no soul?
“Are you sure?”
The old man looked at me with a nod and said, “Absolutely. Thank you so much.”
I smiled and took one last Reese’s Christmas Tree from the bucket—the man had been waiting for me to knock like it was freakin’ Halloween—and smiled at him. “See you next time.”
The old man waved, and his decrepit looking dog gave one last exhausted bark before the door was shut.
I walked back to the truck with my spoils—a bucket that had the Grinch on it that was filled to the brim with candy, cookies and a few random drinks—and had a smile on my face as I did it.
When I’d first tried to decide what I wanted to do with my life, never had it occurred to me to do anything like this. But I was finding that I really liked it. It was peaceful, and I got to listen to audiobooks all day while doing my job. I couldn’t find anything bad about that. Plus, I got my steps in.
The smile stayed on my face until my phone rang four deliveries later.
“Hello?”
“Calliope?”
I stiffened at the sound of my sister’s voice so close to tears. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Because if my sister was calling me, there was something seriously wrong. Because Anders didn’t call me unless it was an emergency, and I was the last resort.
I sort of felt badly about that and all, but I was exhausted from having to help raise them.
It’d been years, but the animosity still somewhat lingered. Which sucked, because I didn’t ever want Anders or Kent to feel like I didn’t love them. I did. I just hated that I had to help raise them when I wasn’t an adult myself at the time.
Anders sniffled then said, “Can you come get me?”
I looked at the brown truck and then back toward my phone. “I have like four more deliveries to make, and then I can drop my truck off and come get you.”
“Okay,” she hiccupped. “Please hurry.”
I didn’t linger on the deliveries. I also didn’t volunteer to help like I usually did when I got back. Instead, I got into my truck and…nothing.
It didn’t start at all.
In fact, it didn’t even make a noise indicating that it was trying to.
Just a bunch of nothing.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
